Quebec Pee Wee Blue Jackets Update No. 1

After a long bus ride, the Blue Jackets arrived in Quebec at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. The players dropped their hockey equipment at the Colisée, and met the billets who they are going to be staying with the duration of the tournament.

On Friday, in the first ever game of a Columbus team playing in Class AA, the Quebec Blue Jackets played a close game against the Deux-Rives team, but lost 3-2. The Blue Jackets out shot their opponent but were met by a strong Deux–Rives goalie.

In this tournament format, the teams play a period lengths of 10, 10 and 15 minutes of no check hockey. The first period started with a fast pace and ended with Deux-Rives 1, Quebec Blue Jackets 0.

The second period went just as quickly with Deux–Rives playing a strong fore-checking style of hockey. The hard work of Julian Ebner lugging the puck through the neutral zone to the offensive end, releasing a strong shot on net and setting up the Blue Jackets first goal scored by Cameron Cristofoli with assists going to Cole Cassels and Travis Studzinski. Score at end of 2: Deux-Rives 2, Blue Jackets 1.

The third period starts with a fresh sheet of ice and 15 minutes of time to work with. The Blue Jackets played with a bit more "rub out," picked up a penalty and the penalty killers worked hard deep in the defensive zone and managed to push the puck out. An aggressive Connor McDonald claims the puck in the neutral zone and heads for the offensive end. Splitting the defense and with a back checker on him he releases a shot and scores a shorthanded unassisted goal. Still on the kill, the Blue Jackets were close to even strength but a Deux-Rives player manages to get a shot off and scored a power-play goal. With seven minutes remaining the Blue Jackets worked to get scoring chances. At about one minute left the goalie was pulled and another skater was put on the ice. The team's hard work in the offensive zone caused Deux-Rives to pick up a tripping penalty with 11 seconds left in the game. However, the Blue Jackets six skaters run out of time against the Deux-Rives four skaters.

Final score: Deux-Rives 3, Blue Jackets 2.

The Quebec Blue Jackets next game is an exhibition game on Saturday against Gatineau.